The Seven Stones of Lliana

An extract

The boys held on to Bob the Log as the water rose higher and higher.  They floated upwards and soon were level with the metal grill.  "Squeeze through the grill," said Bob.  They squeezed through the grill.  "Now take a deep breath and hold on tight." They took a deep breath and held on tight as Bob dived through the water.  The boys thought their lungs were about to burst when suddenly they emerged in sunlight at the side of the lake.  "Hide behind the rocks," whispered Bob.

                        From there the boys could see a great armada: slave-galleys full of people.  Each had a prow in the shape of an eagle with claws and beak outstretched.  Oarsmen sat chained below the deck while on the deck stood women and children with eyes downcast, all in chains.  Guards with spears walked around them, cracking cruel whips.  The sun shone on the castle tower and, to the sound of bagpipes screaming as if in pain, Prince Benjamin walked out on to the balcony.  All the slaves (men, women and children) cheered and cheered: "Long live the Prince!  Long live our champion!"

          "Silence!" cried Prince Benjamin in a cruel, sneering voice.  "I am told you thought that I had disappeared.  As you can see you were wrong.  I have decided that you should celebrate my return in a special way."  The slaves (men women and children) cheered and cheered.  "You will live on bread and water for a week and work twice as hard in the mines."

          Prince Benjamin laughed horribly at his speech and as he laughed thunder and lightning crashed and flashed across the sky, the sun was eclipsed and the lake plunged into the darkness of the night.  The slaves (men, women and children) gasped in pain as driving hail fell upon their heads.  They cried out in despair: "There is no hope!" "Even our Prince has deserted us!"

          Julius and Alexander turned to Bob and whispered earnestly, "Our brother is not really like that." "He has been bewitched." "I know," said Bob, "but you must come with me.  Hold on tight.  Take a deep breath."  The boys held on tight and took a deep breath as Bob dived into the lake, down and down, until at last he came up in a hidden cavern beneath the castle.

          "Come and meet my wife," said Bob, "and my children and my friends."  Soon all the Logs were crowding round the boys wanting to shake hands.  "The Logs are the only free people of Iliana," said Bob.  "All others have been enslaved by the Princess of the Night."  "How have you kept free?"  "The Princess thinks we're lumps of wood."  The Logs all laughed at this.  Then they began to whisper amongst themselves: "They don't look very strong."  "Have they got magic powers?"  "Where is the chair?"

          Bob turned to the boys.  "There is a legend in this land that the power of the Princess of the Night will be destroyed by three boys and a chair."  "Three boys and a chair!  Are you sure?"  "We haven't got a chair."  The Logs continued to murmur:  "They haven't got a chair."  "Then it must be another three boys."  "It's no good without a chair."  "I think you mean a cat," said a voice from the far end of the cavern.  The Logs stopped talking and turned and stared.  "We are glad to see you, Snuggle!" cried the boys. "We are in dreadful trouble.  Benjamin has become a nasty Prince.  The Logs think we need a chair."

          All the Logs began to talk at once:  "Three boys and a chair."  "Definitely a chair."  "Not a cat."  "Chairs are made of wood."  "They're very important."  Snuggle laughed.  "You are a daft lot.  Whoever heard of a witch being defeated by a chair?"  "Or a cat," said Bob, to cheers from the other Logs.  "Snuggle," cried the boys, "show them your magic powers," (for the boys were proud of their cat).  "Very well," said Snuggle.  He thought hard - and turned himself into a chair.  "A chair!"  "The legend has come true!"  The Logs cheered wildly.

          Snuggle turned himself back into a cat.  He winked at the boys and whispered, "That's kept them happy."  Then he said loudly, "Now, Logs, we must get to work."  The Logs gathered around Snuggle.  "First tell me how the Princess of the Night conquered Iliana."  "It started with a storm." "A dreadful storm." "A fearsome storm."  "Don't all speak at once.  Bob tell me what happened."

          Bob took a deep breath.  "When the Prince of Iliana was very young he was protected by the seven stones.  They formed a circle round the island, six on small pinnacles just above the water, the seventh at the top of the castle tower: within that circle evil could not exist.  Everyone lived at peace.  If ever there was disagreement, the members of the Council would go and see the Prince and he would leave his toys and gently tell them what to do.

          "Then there came a terrible storm.  It was the middle of the day, the sun was shining brightly, but suddenly it was eclipsed and the lake plunged into the darkness of the night.  The wind howled; the rain beat down; thunder and lightning filled the sky and the waters of the lake rose in great waves, which beat upon the island.  Then six huge waves ripped the stones from the top of the pinnacles; a whirlwind tore the seventh from the castle tower; the drawbridge clattered down and the Princess of the Night with her guards and servants entered the castle.  They seized the Prince and no one has seen him since, while all the people of Iliana have been enslaved and put to work in the mines, digging for emeralds and diamonds."  Bob the Log stopped speaking, out of breath. He had never made such a long speech in his life. 

          "We must find the seven stones and the Prince," said Snuggle.  "But how?" the Logs all cried at once.  "You Logs will make marvellous spies - a log is such a fantastic disguise."  "It's not a disguise.  It's us," said a voice at the back.  "Hear!  Hear!" the others cried.

          "I want you to float to every island, to every cave around the lake.  Creep into the villages.  Float amongst the boats.  Listen to what the guards and servants of the Princess say."  The Logs cried, "We will.  We will." 

          The larger Logs dressed the little Logs in their warmest bark and said, "Be careful not to get cold."  Then the Logs swam out of the cavern and floated off into every part of the lake.  They crept silently up the shore to the villages.  They floated between the boats.  Everywhere they went they listened hard.
Snuggle and the boys slept in the cavern.  It was hours before the Logs began to return.  "What did you discover?"  Snuggle asked.  "Nothing.nothing," muttered the Logs as, tired out, they lay upon the ground. "We saw many sad sights: men, women and children in chains walking to and from the mines."  "Guards with spears and long cruel whips."  "But not the Prince."  "Or the seven stones."

          All the Logs had returned except one little one.  Her mother and father were getting worried when she swam into the cavern.  She cried excitedly, "I've found something very strange! In the far corner of the lake near the disused mines I heard guards muttering, 'We must feed the beast.'  They got truckloads of meat and fish, opened great metal gates and floated the meat and fish into the cavern on rafts tied to long ropes.  There was a terrible roar.  The guards were scared (so was I).  When they pulled the ropes to get the rafts back there was nothing left except a few jagged bits of wood: the rafts had been munched by great teeth."

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